Paul D. Selver

Paul’s recent projects have included the successful coordination of the public approvals and environmental review required for a rezoning and related land use actions that will enable a major health care-related not-for-profit to redevelop its Upper East Side property with a 450,000 square foot life sciences hub; a precedent-setting rezoning on Staten Island that will produce more than 650 new market rate and affordable apartments; and the sale of existing development rights and the creation and sale of additional development rights appurtenant to a landmark Broadway theater for use in an adjacent hotel. He also has provided land use advice for the development of last-mile distribution centers in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island; conducted land use due diligence on behalf of developers and institutions evaluating the purchase of land and development rights; overseen the documentation of scores of development rights transactions; and successfully argued for both Department of Buildings and Board of Standards and Appeals approval of zoning interpretations necessary for the success of client projects.

Paul oversees a wide range of land use approvals. These include ministerial entitlements for health care facilities in Manhattan and Brooklyn, each of which depended on securing a critical zoning interpretation; television and motion picture production facilities in Queens and the Bronx; the renovation and enhancement of a large public plaza in Midtown Manhattan; and apartment buildings in the newly rezoned Gowanus Canal neighborhood. They also include one of the first applications under newly adopted zoning text requiring a special permit for all transient hotels in New York City; a rezoning and special permit for a development with about 915 apartments, more than half of them affordable; and a rezoning and an authorization for the development of a 400,000-square-foot mixed-use building and a major subway improvement in Midtown Manhattan. He also continues to oversee due diligence for property acquisitions and transactions for the purchase and sale of development rights, and to counsel on compliance with zoning and other land use controls in development projects across the city.

Paul has practiced land use law with the same core group of lawyers since 1995, and he brought his practice group to Kramer Levin in 2005. He has repeatedly been recognized as one of New York City’s most respected and well-known land use lawyers. Chambers USA has ranked Paul in Band 1 (Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use) since 2005, recognizing him as “renowned in his field” and, according to clients and commentators, someone who is “a leading land use attorney and brings particular experience handling the zoning concerns of major developments” and “the best technical lawyer that has practiced land use in some time,” a lawyer who “offers a wealth of real world experience in real estate matters” and “knows the world real estate developers operate in very well and advises his clients solidly.” a “‘first-rate’ attorney” with “excellent analysis of complex zoning issues,” a “great dealmaker,” “very skilled at reworking and interpreting zoning, and very aware of the marketplace,” “one of the preeminent land use attorneys in New York,” and “very experienced and a terrific negotiator.” Other Chambers sources have praised his skill and approach, describing him as “thoughtful, extremely hard-working, and a pleasure to work with,” noting that he “is an exceptionally creative and innovative thinker” and “has an outstanding breadth of knowledge and experience and he is highly sophisticated with excellent business acumen.” Legal 500 US has also repeatedly named him as a top lawyer in real estate and construction (land use/zoning). Paul has also been named by Best Lawyers as “New York City Lawyer of the Year” for land use and zoning law in four of the last 12 years (2012, 2017, 2019, 2024).

In addition to his work on behalf of Kramer Levin’s clients, Paul also serves as chair of the Planning and Zoning Committee with the Real Estate Board of New York.